Shattered
by diana2megr
Summary: Complete! This is a Sakura ficcie, sort of. I don't know what it is now...
1. Remember

A Naruto fanfic by diana2megr

* * *

Disclaimer: Naruto is the intellectual property of Misashi Kishimoto. Copyright by Tokyo TV, etc.

* * *

Summary: During the Chuunin exam, a noble saw a plaything he lost. With Konoha weakened after the Sound/ Sand invasion, he decided that he can't miss this chance to recover a mislaid favorite toy... and will a certain pink-haired _genin's _fractured personality shatter at the pressure of a forgotten past revisited?

* * *

OC:

Ishikawa Inoue - Lightning country's feudal lord

Fujiwara Kazuhiko – right hand man of Ishikawa-sama

Takahashi Akira - vassal of Ishikawa-sama

* * *

Japanese terms : (translation only as understood')  
  
_Omoide _– remember 

_Genin _– low-level ninja

_Jounin _– high-level ninja

_Bishounen _– beautiful guy

_Dobe _– dead last (Sasuke's trademark insult for Naruto)

_Torii _– gate

_Ano sa_ – Naruto expression to get attention (not sure exact translation)

_Sensei _– teacher

_Nindo _– ninja way

_Masaka - _impossible

_Baka_ – idiot

* * *

Shattered by d2m 

Part I: Omoide

* * *

Akira was bored. The match he was waiting for and the outcome of his bet with Fujiwara were still up for grabs with the Uchiha's continued absence. "Che, where the hell's the Uchiha brat?" He complained to his childhood friend, Fujiwara Kazuhiko.  
  
Kazuhiko just shrugged and nonchalantly went back to his crowd watching. His icy blue eyes skimmed the multitude, as he was wont to do.  
  
"Jeez, you're a pain Kazu." Akira grumbled, but he followed the other's gaze. "What's so interesting in the commoners' stand?" His eyes widened as he saw hair of a startling pastel color. He smirked as he remembered the reason for the absurd liking he had developed for that particular hair color. "Heh, did you see that Kazu?"  
  
Silence answered him. Annoyed Akira elbowed him. "Oi, Kazu?" His joint hit nothing but air. He quickly glanced at an empty chair in his right in shock. "Kazu?" There was no one beside him.  
  
Suddenly, the crowd roared to life. Surprised at the sudden noise, Akira jumped up. "What's going on?"  
  
A hand firmly clasped his shoulder. "Kira. Sit. The match's about to start."  
  
Akira glowered in reply. "Kazu, where the hell did you go?"  
  
The normally dead blue eyes were teeming with some unknown emotion. Thin lips slightly turned up. It was a sight to see on the face of the aloof noble. "Nowhere."  
  
"Che, I won't forget this, Kazu." Akira warned before settling down. Truer words could not have been said. NOT. In the chaos of the match and the following attack, Akira forgot all about the interrogation he planned.  
  
Kazuhiko didn't forget what he saw that day. It was the beginning of an unfortunate series of events that he will instigate for the sake of something that he lost.

* * *

A month had passed since the Sound/Sand invasion and things where slowly retuning to normal in the Hidden Village of Konoha. In a certain red bridge overlooking a river, three _genins _were waiting in their usual spots.  
  
Sakura was bored. Two hours had past already and, as usual, Team 7's _jounin _instructor has still to make an appearance. It was a normal event already, but still... time didn't pass that well. Especially not after the invasion and all. It was so annoying to wait for hours on end for the arrival of the perpetually late Hatake Kakashi.  
  
Sakura sighed. There was just absolutely nothing to do but watch Sasuke-kun and Naruto argue. Or to make it more accurate, watch Naruto mouth off while Sasuke ignores him. Sasuke-kun... now, that's a subject she could discuss forever. Sasuke-kun was just so FINE. Sakura giggled as she eyed the handsome face of the Uchiha heir. "So cool," she dreamily murmured while the two teens began to duke it out. Her eyes saw Sasuke through a tint of rainbow and bubbles. An utterly _bishounen _Sasuke gave a nice guy smile (with the trademark Gai twinkle) and winked at her. Sakura was in heaven. A faint murmur of "Sasuke-kun..." escaped from her lips.  
  
Inner Sakura energetically came to life at the thought of her Sasuke- kun. 'Yeah!' Inner Sakura roared, arms wildly waving navy blue Sasuke flags. 'My Sasuke just rocks! LOOK at those moves! Strong. Smart. Elite Uchiha!'  
  
Back in reality – outside of both Sakura and inner Sakura's dream world - Sasuke gracefully avoided Naruto's too obvious straightforward attack and used the other boy's momentum against him.  
  
"Too obvious, _dobe_." Sasuke muttered at the whining blonde boy.  
  
"Yo, everyone!" Kakashi greeted from the puff of smoke that accompanied his appearance at the top of the red _torii_.  
  
"You're LATE!" Naruto and Sakura chorused, their fingers damningly pointing at him.  
  
A hand was already sheepishly scratching the back of a head full of silver hair. The eye left visible by the mask was closed into an arc. "My bad! But you see - my chopsticks broke while I was eating breakfast and I thought it best not to come out until the wave of bad luck disappears..."  
  
"LIES!" Naruto and Sakura screamed.  
  
"Ehehe, everyone never mind that now." Kakashi opened his eye. "We have a mission to do."  
  
"_Ano sa, ano sa_, Kakashi-_sensei_." A certain blonde excitedly waived his hand. "Is it a more exciting mission? I mean, could I practice my _nindo_ more enthusiastically?"  
  
"Ah." The _jounin _instructor looked back at the three upturned faces. A serious expression was on his face. His eyelid dropped a bit as he gazed at their earnest faces especially at the team's only girl. "It's a class 'A' mission."  
  
"What!" Sakura exploded. A frightened look crossed her face. She remembers too well the other 'A' missions they had.  
  
Naruto jumped up with joy. "Alright! Class 'A'! Class 'A'! Kakashi-_sensei's _the greatest."  
  
Sasuke just looked at Kakashi with suspicion but he too was pleased with a type 'A' mission. "So what's it about?"  
  
"We are traveling to a border city where trafficking is getting out of hand."  
  
"Trafficking?" Naruto asked. Invisible question marks could almost be seen dancing above his head.  
  
"Ah," Kakashi replied. The serious look was still in his face. "Girls."  
  
Sakura paled. A piece of white silk and flowing platinum hair flashed in her mind. "_Masaka_! Surely not... white slavery!"  
  
Sasuke looked at his FEMALE teammate. His lips thinned into a straight line. "Sakura should just stay here." He abruptly commented before turning around to look at a tree.  
  
Naruto just nodded in pretend understanding. "Okay." He will ask Sakura-chan later. He brightened up. "So when will we leave? Hey, _baka_!" He whirled to face Sasuke. He had just realized what Sasuke said. "What do you mean by leaving Sakura-chan? We're a team. Sakura-chan has to be there."  
  
Kakashi placed a hand at Naruto's head. "We are a team, Sasuke. Sakura has to come. Besides," Worry passed by in his eye before disappearing in a blink. "Sakura is important for this mission."  
  
Sakura faced her instructor. "I am?"  
  
"We'll talk about it on the way. So," Kakashi smiled at his students. "Go home and pack. We'll be leaving early tomorrow morning. Be at the gate by six. Don't be late." With mischief in his visible eye, the perpetually late _jounin _warned his team before disappearing in a poof!  
  
Naruto shouted angrily at the rapidly disappearing smoke. "YOU"RE the one who's always late!"  
  
"Hmph, he's gone." Sasuke left.  
  
Sakura took a step to follow. She suddenly stopped. A ghostly figure was superimposed over Sasuke. He had black hair and was dressed in the fine robes of a lord. The black-haired man seemed as if he was about to face her. Almost involuntarily, she took a step back.  
  
Naruto looked at her in surprise. "Sakura-chan?"  
  
"I... I have to go." Sakura ran in the opposite direction from Sasuke.  
  
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto shouted. He looked at the path Sasuke took and then back to Sakura's rapidly disappearing back. He looked at the left. He looked at the right. He blinked. His neck ached. "What's going on? Oh well," he blithely shrugged his shoulders. "Ramen time!" He ran in the direction of his favorite ramen stall, the Ichiraku.

* * *

That night, Sakura dreamt of falling cherry petals and fine white silk flowing like liquid in the air. A strand of the palest gold, almost silver in a way, was entwined in the silk.  
  
She turned to her side. A frown marred her face.  
  
A golden goblet slowly began to tip. Scarlet drops like blood splashed in a puddle. A blood red moon was reflected on its surface. Another drop disrupted the image of a perfect silver circle rimmed red. A man stood over the pool.  
  
She abruptly turned to her left. Her blanket was tightly clenched in one hand.  
  
White silk covered his head. Shadows masked his face. He spoke a single word.  
  
She couldn't hear him. Sweat beaded her forehead.  
  
He reached out to her.  
  
She moaned. Fear. Anger. Desperation. She didn't know hat she felt.  
  
His hand was about to touch her face... to trace its features.  
  
She struck out. She panted. Her blanket lay in a tangled heap at the bedroom floor. She looked out her window. It was dark outside. A new moon.  
  
'Just forget about it, _baka_!' Inner Sakura shouted. Terror shone in her verdant eyes.  
  
A pair of green eyes glazed over. Sakura fell asleep. Fear buried in the innermost recesses of her mind.  
  
Inner Sakura uncharacteristically brooded. 'This is bad.' Her hands tightly fisted. Her mind continued to whirl with dozens of ideas. Gradually, she unclenched her fingers. She shrugged it off. Anyway when Sakura wakes up tomorrow, she will just dismiss the pervading feeling of unease off as mission jitters. Inner Sakura closed her eyes. 'It doesn't matter, the past will remain where it belongs. Buried and forgotten.'

* * *

Kazuhiko smiled as he fingered a familiar piece of white cloth. It was made of the finest silk in the country. He looked at the night sky, dark and empty without its glorious glowing ornament.  
  
Eyes half-lidded, he released the silk for a playful breeze to twirl and flow.  
  
"It won't be long now." Satisfaction saturated his tone.  
  
The silk fluidly ended its graceful dance to rest in his outstretched hand.

* * *

Preview of the Next Chapter:  
  
Kakashi's dissent. The Hokage's reasons. A trip to the border and beyond...

* * *

_ Tsuzuku_


	2. Yesterday

A Naruto fanfic by diana2megr  
  
Disclaimer: Naruto is the intellectual property of Misashi Kishimoto. Copyright by TV Tokyo, etc.  
  
Rating Warning: This story is PG-13 coz its gonna be about why there's an inner Sakura. It'll be light stuff at first, but it's going to get worse as the plot thickens. So, don't read if child abuse and other similarly sick stuff bother you... too much that is.  
  
Samuru-Sa and Millie-chan: _Domo arigato!_

__

__

* * *

Shattered by d2m

Part 2: _Kino_ (Yesterday)

* * *

Soft.  
  
Smooth.  
  
Shiny.  
  
"It's silk, little one."  
  
Sakura nodded her head thoughtfully. She made a pretty picture dressed in a fluffy white sundress and a pink lock caught between carnation lips. Decisively she plopped the matching hat on her head. One silken tie fluttered at her nose. Large green eyes got crossed as she stared at its butterfly motions. Bewildered, she looked up to the man beside her.  
  
He smiled. Bending a knee, he slowly tied the ends underneath her chin. Long fingers caressed baby soft skin.  
  
Sakura blushed at the attention. She liked him. He always made her feel special.  
  
He laughed. She had such a rosy complexion. "You're so cute, my Sakura-chan."  
  
A fall of pink barely hid the flush of red as it spread further. Shyly, she looked up to him again. "Ahh... umm... _ano sa_..."  
  
"What's on your mind, little one?" He asked. His thumb brushed against her cheekbones. Soft and slow. His motions were so casual and yet deliberate.  
  
"Where are we going today?"  
  
He gazed up at the wide blue canopy dotted with puffs of white cotton. "Hmm, I know." A sly look crossed his aquiline features. "Let's go on a picnic, Sakura-chan."  
  
Sakura clapped in delight. "That's wonderful!"  
  
"I'm glad that you like it, Sakura-chan." Another intense look passed his face.  
  
Sakura chanted happily under her breath. "A picnic. A picnic. We are going to a picnic."  
  
"I'll be sure to make you happy, Sakura-chan." He laughed.  
  
There was a strange ring to his laugh, but Sakura didn't understand it. There were a lot of things she didn't understand since HE brought her here, but she didn't care. Not anymore. Not since she reached her happy place. That was all that matters.

* * *

"Sakura-chan?"  
  
Sakura woke up with a start.  
  
"Sakura-chan? Are you awake now, Sakura-chan?" Naruto worriedly asked.  
  
Sakura suspiciously eyed the blonde boy. "Huh? What's the big idea? Why did you wake me up? It's not yet morning!"  
  
Bright blue eyes were wide with concern. "But you were tossing and turning! I thought you might be having a bad dream. That's why I woke you up."  
  
"I was?" Sakura asked in surprise.  
  
Naruto casually brushed the sweat on her forehead. He showed to her the moisture in his finger. "You were sweating. See?"  
  
Sakura blinked at the whispery touch. The sensation was, somehow, familiar. "Oh? I see. Well, thank you for waking me then."  
  
"Are you alright now? What were you dreaming about anyway?" Naruto asked. Concern burned bright in his sky blue eyes.  
  
Sakura frowned in concentration. "I don't remember..."  
  
"You don't?"  
  
Sakura raised a hand in front of his face. "Never mind. Just go back to sleep Naruto. We need the rest. We still have a long way to go."  
  
"But!"  
  
"Good night." Sakura replied firmly. The tone of her voice ended the discussion.  
  
Naruto frowned. A hand clamped down on his shoulder. It was accompanied by the voice of his _sensei_.[i]  
  
"Go back to sleep, Naruto."  
  
"But Kakashi-_sensei_!" Naruto protested.  
  
"I'll watch over Sakura." Kakashi reassuringly told his fretting student.  
  
Naruto frowned at the silver-haired _jounin_[ii]. He gazed intently at the single revealed eye. Finally, he nodded his head in assent. "Kay." He softly replied before returning to his sleeping bag.  
  
Kakashi continued to smile at the boy until his breath evened out signifying sleep. Glancing at the sleeping Sakura, he eyed his only female subordinate with the same concern that Naruto showed. She was sleeping peacefully. For now. Worry was evident in his eye as he thought of the team's mission.  
  
It was another long night for Hatake Kakashi as he remembered the _Godaime_'s[iii] parting words.

* * *

"WHAT!"  
  
Even muffled, the voice of Copy _Nin_[iv] Kakashi can be clearly heard coming from the Office of the _Hokage_[v].  
  
Surprised, Shizune glanced at the closed door.  
  
One of the _jounin _guards raised an eyebrow at his partner. He gave a small shrug in reply to the silent question.  
  
There was a pause. Logically, the _Godaime _must have replied before another shout came through plaster and wood.  
  
"Then, WHY?"  
  
Shizune worriedly bit her lips. Whatever was making the infamous laid-back _nin _scream like that at the _Hokage _of all people? She jumped at the loud bang of a fist slammed against a table. The voice that followed was assuredly Tsunade's.  
  
"YOU DON'T ASK WHY! When I say jump, you say how high!!"  
  
Her words shimmered in the air. It was an almost visible echo.  
  
Shizune froze in the awkward position between standing and sitting. The guards straightened up. Eyes deliberately blank again. They were in strict attention.  
  
A quick stream of buzzing sounds soon followed the long silence.  
  
Shizune sat down.  
  
Seconds later, a loud poof signaled the departure of the _jounin_.  
  
Anxiously, the constant companion of the new _Hokage_ of the Hidden Village of Fire quickly walked towards the closed door. She softly knocked before timidly calling out to the woman whom she knew must be fuming behind it. "Tsunade-sama?"  
  
She was right. Tsunade was grumbling very colorful and definitely most unflattering descriptions of the _jounin_ who had just momentarily disappeared in a puff of smoke in her office. 'Scarecrow' was the kindest word she had for him.  
  
"WHAT?" The irate blonde woman asked the bodiless head peeking from behind her office's door. "Well? What are you waiting for? An inscribed invitation?"  
  
"Ahh, well..." Suzune trailed off at lost at what to say to calm the _Hokage _who was currently breathing fire without even making a single seal. She sent a quick prayer up. "Would Tsunade-sama like some tea?"  
  
Wrong question. The room exploded. Figuratively. The _kami_[vi] in the ceiling must have been deafened by the previous arguments within the same room so that Suzune's prayers fell on, pun intended, deaf ears.  
  
It was a long day for everyone who had business in the _Hokage_'s Office.

* * *

"Are we there yet? Are we? Are we?" A certain blonde _genin_[vii] irritatingly asked his companions for what seemed to be the hundredth time since they had started their journey.  
  
There were still two more hours before noon. The sun was brightly shining and the roads were clear. It was a pleasant day for traveling but things were just too quiet for the hyperactive ninja so he decided to liven it up by starting a conversation.  
  
However, as usual, everyone ignored him except for one person. Who could that be? What a difficult question that is! Let's go through the rest of Team 7 one by one then.  
  
First is the only adult in the group. There's no way he could answer Naruto's question. He was currently giggling while reading his favorite novel. A telltale flush graced his mostly mask-covered face.  
  
Next is the avenger. He couldn't answer either as he was determinedly marching onwards with the single-minded dedication that only he was capable of. Yes, he was obsessing over the road...  
  
So that left the explanations to the smartest person in the team. Yep, Haruno Sakura is information girl again. Unfortunately for Naruto, Sakura wasn't exactly the most patient person in the world. Even gratitude for his actions last night only got him so far before Inner Sakura exploded into action.  
  
Eyes round with anger, Sakura whirled around to face the unsuspecting victim of Inner Sakura released! **"For the nth time, Naruto! No. No! No AND STILL NO! Do you understand? Not yet! OK??? We still have a day's worth of traveling to go!"**  
  
The very air vibrated at the force of her words. An enraged Inner Sakura was nothing less than a very force of nature!  
  
"Ah, okay." Naruto gingerly replied. Smartly, he subtlety walked slower so that the fuming Sakura would be ahead of him. Even if he wasn't the smartest cookie in the jar, he still had some brains to figure out that Sakura looking like THAT (Inner Sakura) equals pain. A lot of it.  
  
Kakashi continued to read his _Icha Icha_ Violence while walking. Unknown to his twelve-year-old troops, a smirk had worked its way to his mouth as a lazy eye rested momentarily on the abashed Naruto's face. He couldn't stop his lips from moving underneath the mask. As Gai would say, 'the burning passion of youth was such a wonderful thing!' Indeed!  
  
Sasuke just snorted. "_Do - be_[viii]."  
  
Naruto's ears grew the size of an elephant. He quickly turned against the other boy of the team. "What did you say?!" He hissed under his breath. It wouldn't do after all for him to be caught arguing with the idiot by the still pissed off Sakura.  
  
Kakashi snorted. Sometimes, his team was like a living plot for his favorite reading material. There was a one-sided love, a love-hate relationship and even a love triangle, if you squint the right way. He was excellent at that as he usually views the world with just one eye anyway. He really should share some of the more, ahem, amusing things that happen to his team with the author. He giggled as his perverted tendencies reared up its very green head to twist the utterly innocent, yet just sometimes too suggestive experiences of Team 7.  
  
As usual, no one minded him thinking he was just being his everyday perverted self. The genins were lucky that they couldn't see what was going on in their perverted _sensei_'s head. It would have scarred them for life... or turned them into perverts too. After all, it was Kakashi's constant exposure to the number one pupil of the great _ero-sennin_[ix] that led to his fall. To think that it was the noble _Yondaime's_[x] fault that the child genius Hatake Kakashi became a pervert. Ah, the power of the _Icha Icha_ series was unparalleled indeed. It had changed the life of more than a billion people worldwide...  
  
Meanwhile, Naruto dramatically rolled his eyes at his perverted instructor and went back to the more important task of showing up the idiot Uchiha.  
  
Sasuke felt a tiny sweat drop on his forehead. He just couldn't understand why he had to have such a perverted _jounin _for an instructor.  
  
Inner Sakura didn't see as she was still stomping ahead of the group while muttering imprecations under her breath.  
  
A single bird cried out in its lonesome journey. "_Hou! A – hou. A – hou!_"[xi]  
  
The road to Edge City was a really long one.

* * *

In the Next Part: _Kaiten_... The arrival. Mission commence. Shatter like glass.  
  
-----------------------

[i] Teacher

[ii] Elite ninja

[iii] 5th Hokage

[iv] Ninja

[v] Fire Shadow. Leader of the Hidden Village of Konoha

[vi] God

[vii] Lowest ninja level

[viii] Dead last. Sasuke's trademark Naruto insult

[ix] Perverted Hermit

[x] 4th Hokage

[xi] Stupid. Scene from Episode 83 where a bird flew past after Naruto ignored Jiraiya's dramatic self-introduction as a legendary ninja, one of the Sannin.


	3. Rotation

A Naruto fanfic by diana2megr

Disclaimer: Naruto is the intellectual property of Misashi Kishimoto. Copyright by TV Tokyo, etc.AU since after Sound/Sand invasion of Konoha. He he he, I need Sasuke here after all for interaction purposes.

Shiroi Hikari, neu chi no nai u, Samuru-Sa, cuito - _Domo! Domo _for the reviews! I'm so happy!!

* * *

Shattered by d2m 

Part III: _Kaiten_ (Rotation)

* * *

Naruto figured that it was all just a dream.  
  
When he open his eyes he'll see the drab white ceiling of his apartment.  
  
(No rain of blood, thick and still warm, dripping in seeming innocence down verdant tree leaves.)  
  
After eating breakfast and dressing up, he'll be meeting Sakura-_chan_ and Sasuke-_baka _at the bridge to wait for the arrival of the ever late Kakashi- _sensei_.  
  
(No unconscious, covered in blood and gore, teammate. No heavily wounded teammate pinned, with what seemed to be about a dozen _kunai _and more, to a broad tree trunk. No collapsed _sensei_ with smoke lazily rising from cloth and flesh equally seared by a powerful burst of chakra.)  
  
Yup, that's exactly what he will see when he open his eyes...  
  
Red.  
  
Too bad. The vision is real.

"Naruto?"  
  
Another drop of blood fell on his face. He wiped his eyes smearing the viscous fluid all over his face. Everything HURTS! "Wa-" He coughed. There was a thick metallic taste in his mouth. It was even in his throat. "Water. Please."  
  
A hand lifted his head to bring a flask to his lips.  
  
"Don't move too much." A deep low voice deliberately admonished him.  
  
Naruto blinked. He recognized that monotonous tone. Wearily, he tried to focus his bleary vision to make out a single form from the unrecognizable mottled expanse of black, gray and brown before him.  
  
"Shi – kamaru?" He shakily asked.  
  
"His father." Shikato blandly corrected him.  
  
Naruto frowned as he tried to decipher just what was going on. There was a huge hole in the middle of the newly made clearing. Smoke was still rising from the scorched earth.

He gasped as he remembered how that hole came to be. It was too sudden. Like a deer caught in the flash of oncoming headlights, he had just stared at the blinding light of the powerful blast as it headed straight for him. He would surely be dead already if it hadn't been for Kakashi-_sensei_...  
  
"Kakashi-_sensei_?" He quickly demanded, looking about for a sign of Team Seven's instructor.  
  
Shikato shushed him just as he saw a grisly sight. "He's in the worst condition in your team. Shizune is taking care of him."  
  
Naruto felt his jaw fell. Smoke no longer hid the hideous burns of the _jounin _instructor. He struggled to get to silver-haired man that Shizune was healing.  
  
"Kakashi-_sensei_!" He desperately cried out.  
  
Shikato quickly pushed him back to the ground. "Settle down. Kakashi's a tough bastard. He'll be fine."  
  
Suddenly a familiar voice shouted from a few feet at his right side.  
  
"SA - ku – Ra!"  
  
Naruto sat up. Again. It was a big a mistake as the first. "Sasuke? Why?" He gaped at the ranting bloody survivor of the Uchiha massacre. It looked as if he had just been through a meat grinder. Blood was pouring from several open wounds in the other boy's shoulders, arms and legs.

A fat man with a thick crop of scraggy red hair was holding him down, while a tall man with a blonde ponytail bandaged him.  
  
"Hold him, Chomaru! I can't bandage him if he keeps on thrashing about." Inoshin berated his hard-pressed fellow _jounin_.  
  
"Can't exactly use too much force you know!" Chomaru joked, but a frown was firmly plastered on his amiable face.  
  
"Saa - kura!" Sasuke weakly cried out. His strength was fading.  
  
Naruto felt something stuck in his throat. Seeing the sympathetic face before him, he shuddered at the whirlwind of memory, which suddenly struck him.

The sudden attack.

The fierce battle.

Sakura slung over the shoulders of a tall man masked with a white silk scarf.

White... white so soon marred by scarlet prints.

He remembered the vibrancy of it against the pure white surface the most. It was just like the dot of black swirl in the middle of a blank paper that ero-sennin showed him during training. Her blood had dyed the snow-white silk.  
  
"Sakura-chan?" He asked softly. Even so the fear and dread came through all too clearly. The expression in the _jounin_'s face was all the answer he needed. Naruto bitterly bowed his head in defeat.

Sakura was gone.

They have failed.

* * *

Questions and yet not. It swirled in her mind. There was so many and all were asked in a sickeningly sweet tone.

Sweeter than candy. Smoother than honey and always impossibly good.

"Would you like some sweet, sweet wine, my pretty little pink flower?"  
  
"How does this feel, _chibi_? Do you like it?"  
  
"Aren't you happy? Don't I make you feel good, _bishoujomine_?"

'Babied!' A rougher voice snarled from within her mind.  
  
'You are angry?' Outer Sakura asked the tough voice. 'Why? Aren't we children?'  
  
'Stupid cow. Teacher's pet!' The rough voice formed into a smirking Inner Sakura barely ten years of age and yet born in an instant of madness and confusion.  
  
Her eyes widened in surprise. 'You? You said... you said bad words. Say sorry now!'  
  
'Who'll make me? You forehead girl?' Inner Sakura mocked her.  
  
Tears glistened in her green eyes. 'You're mean! I don't like you. Go away!'  
  
'Fat chance, BA - BY.' Inner Sakura drawled lazily. 'You won't last a moment what I go through every f#%ing day!'

"How are you feeling, Sakura?" A surprisingly deep voice arose the girl from her confusing inner monologue.  
  
Sakura blinked, shook her head and spoke up. "Like shit! How else would someone who's been hauled around like a sack of sand feel?" Inner Sakura was surprisingly in charge. She blinked again at that realization. "What the hell?" The shocked girl grumbled under her breath. "I haven't been out like this since..."  
  
She looked up as she recognized the demanding voice. He was just like as she remembered. He was perhaps taller but then she had grown up a bit herself. "YOU!" She turned as white as the smooth silky sheets she was holding.  
  
The man before her smiled unpleasantly. "Tsk! Tsk! Such tongue you have now, _chibi_! Whatever happened to my sweet innocent flower?"  
  
Sakura clenched her fist. "She met you!"  
  
"Bitch!" Akira snarled at the girl sitting up on the wide bed.  
  
"Akira, enough!" Kazuhiko ordered from the gaping doorway.  
  
Sakura shivered at the sound of another familiar voice.  
  
Akira backed away instantly but not without grumbling. "Che! I saved her from bandits and this is the thanks I get."  
  
Kazuhiko merely lifted a regal eyebrow at him.  
  
"Hmph! Yeah, yeah. I'm going see?" Akira sarcastically remarked as he headed for the door. The black-haired noble crinkled his nose at his bloody outfit. "Gotta change anyway."  
  
Kazuhiko calmly nodded at the finally rational decision of his friend.  
  
"He, he, don't do anything I wouldn't." Akira suddenly whispered mischievously as he passed the blonde. Kazuhiko's icy look would have frozen him on the spot if he had been looking at him.  
  
Sakura stared at the man approaching her. "I know you, don't I?"  
  
Cold blue eyes bored unto green ones before he casually sat down at the recently vacated chair beside her bed. He continued to watch her in contemplative silence as he regarded her question.  
  
Sakura wanted to scream at the prolonged silence when he finally replied in a voice heavily laden with irony.  
  
"It seems that something just have to go wrong, eh Sakura?"  
  
Sakura gaped at him. "What?"  
  
Something unrecognizable passed his eyes. His icy demeanor returned in an instant. "Ishikawa-_sama_ is expecting your presence this evening."  
  
"Ishikawa-_sama_?" Sakura gaped as she remembered the name of the Lord of Lightning Country.  
  
Kazuhiko merely continued as if she hadn't said a thing. "Kotori. Ayumi"  
  
Immediately the door opened and two young women appeared. "_Hai, Fujiwara-sama_."  
  
Kazuhiko nodded. "Take care of her." He curtly ordered.   
  
A surprised Sakura looked at the two women who subserviently bowed as Kazuhiko left. 

Suddenly he stopped at the doorway. Without a word, he just drew out the white silk scarf holding back his hair. It fell in a gentle golden wave.  
  
White and gold.

Sakura could only stare as memories flooded her mind. It overwhelmed her. She didn't notice as the women gently guided her to the women's bath. She didn't notice the expensive and elaborate dress they clothed her with. She didn't notice a thing until another reminder of a past she thought long buried appeared in front of her eyes – a shoji screen which shadowed a familiar fear.

* * *

In the shadows a man smiled. It was with sadistic pleasure.  
  
"Show time."  
  
A leaf gently fell.  
  
He was gone even before it reached the grass covered lawn.

_Tsuzuku... _


	4. Pervert

A Naruto fanfic by diana2megr  
  
Disclaimer: Naruto is the intellectual property of Misashi Kishimoto. Copyright by TV Tokyo, etc.  
  
This is AU after Sound/Sand invasion of Konoha. I claim creative license for all OOCness or non-canon stuff. ;)  
  
Rating Warning: Some really sicko stuff ahead. Nothing graphic mind you, just ah not so fluffy ideas. Should I raise this fic's rating?   
  
A/N: I didn't know my mind was THIS sick. Maybe I should get my own head looked at... nah! Anyway, thank you, reviewers! I dedicate this aptly named chapter to you guys who loyally reviewed each and every chapter. You know who you are! Wink. Wink. Eeep, please don't flame me! Please look at warning above!

* * *

Shattered by d2m

Part IV: _Ecchi_ (Pervert)

* * *

It was quiet inside. The only sound was the rustling of robes until a man spoke. His voice was low and velvety.  
  
"So soft. So smooth. Aren't you happy, my pretty one? Doesn't this please you, my little flower?"  
  
The reply was so soft and submissive that it was almost inaudible, but to the listening _shinobi _it was a sickening confirmation of an information he had hoped beyond anything was false.  
  
Kakashi's visible eye alighted with frightening rage the instant he recognized the voice of his charge. In a split second, he was inside the room and throwing Ishikawa off the young girl lying complacently in the huge bed.  
  
Ishikawa moaned in pain as he hit the wall. He didn't even have time to shout before the chittering sound of what seemed to be a thousand birds heralded his demise. His eyes reflected a crackling blue light before it dulled in death's embrace.  
  
Kakashi hissed with anger. Blood splattered across his clothes and face. Violently withdrawing his arm from the hole that he made in the heavy body of the older man, he contemptuously crushed the still beating organ in his hand before turning his back on the dead lord. He drew his forehead protector over the _Sharingan _eye when he saw that a pair of green eyes was blankly looking at him. Verdant gaze followed the gradual fall of red drops.  
  
Involuntarily, he clenched his hands at the sight in front of him. It was a picture straight from his _hentai _novels. Carnation locks disheveled. The pure white robe about to slide off a pale shoulder. Bared youthful skin gleamed underneath the moonlight streaming from the gaping door. But his reaction to this was the complete opposite. He began to see red again as pictures of just what probably happened to HIS Haruno Sakura easily flashed across his perverted mind. What that !#$% piece of #$% did to HIS student was unforgivable. He deserved death a thousand times worse than that which he did dished out.  
  
Seeing her skin prickle under the wind's icy touch woke him up from the building rage. "Sakura," he spoke quietly not wanting to surpise her. There were a thousand things he wanted to say to her as he painfully gazed at the dead look in his student's eyes. Instead, he silently and swiftly retied her robes. In a flash, he had wrapped her in a thin black blanket and nothing living remained in the room.

Outside the sprawling country residence, the original Ino-Shika-Chou trio (who acted as guard, lookout and interceptor) soon joined the fleeing _jounin_.  
  
"Kakashi, I'll carry her. We still have a long way to go." Chomaru offered to the somber man gently holding the fully wrapped girl that not even a strand of pink showed.  
  
Kakashi's reply was single and curt. "No."  
  
Chomaru blinked in surprise. "But-"  
  
"Kakashi," Inoshi interrupted them. "It's Chomaru's job to carry Sakura. You've already rescued her per your request. Don't overdo it. You're barely healed as it is."  
  
"I know the mission as well as you, Inoshi. Don't patronize me." Kakashi rudely answered.  
  
Inoshi narrowed his eyes. "I wouldn't, if you would just allow Chomaru to do his part as planned."  
  
Kakashi snorted. "No. Sakura doesn't know Chomaru. She might be frightened if I hand her over to a stranger."  
  
Inoshi raised an eyebrow at the flippant reply. "She wouldn't even know as she's unconscious."  
  
Shikato spoke up. "Shut up. Your stringent voices will give us away."  
  
Both men glared at the lazy looking brunette.  
  
Shikato just shrugged it off. "Kakashi, I think we've humored you enough in this mission. If you insist in getting your way again, you will slow us down. Getting back to Konoha's our top priority."  
  
Kakashi halted. The swiftly flowing background stilled into a forest scene. Around him, the three men perched in different nearby trees. The heavy tree foliage blocked the moonlight, letting in only tiny streams to fall into the ground.  
  
Mechanically, he turned around to face Chomaru. His face looked as if it has been carved from ice.  
  
Chomaru assured him as he quickly stepped up beside the still jounin. "Kakashi, she'll be alright with me."  
  
Without another word, Kakashi gently transferred the sleeping girl to the heavier built man.  
  
Silently, they sped away in the cover of the night towards the Country of Lightning's Western border.

* * *

Near Lightning country's border, Shizune worriedly gazed at the injured children around her. It wasn't that they were getting worse. Oh no, Sasuke's wounds were healing quite nicely. Naruto was already completely well. Instead it was the somber atmosphere that concerned her more. Sasuke was brooding over his wounds. His eyes seeing farther than reality. Naruto was unnaturally silent as well. He was staring at the flickering flames of the campfire.  
  
"Naruto-_kun_," Shizune suddenly stopped unsure of what to say.  
  
Naruto faced the young woman. "I'm alright."  
  
Shizune smiled seeing the confidence that shone brightly in the boy's blue eyes. "I know Kakashi-_sensei_ will bring her back. Kakashi-_sensei_'s strong after all."  
  
Sasuke snorted. "If he's that strong then why did he allow those men to take Sakura?"  
  
"He didn't allow them! He," Naruto wilted at the memory. "got injured protecting me."  
  
"Enough." Shizune interrupted them. "It was nobody's fault. I thought I got this through both of you already!"  
  
The boys shut up tighter than a clam as Shizune scolded them again.  
  
"Listen. This is the reason why 'A' rank mission is normally given to a _jounin _– it never goes exactly the way we wish it to be. 'A' missions have too many dangerous, unknown or unpredictable elements for a _genin _team to handle. No matter how talented a team it is or who its _jounin sensei _is." Shizune sighed at seeing only stubborn chins. "This mission should never have been undertaken by Team 7 even if it's headed by Kakashi-_san_."  
  
"Then why did Kakashi took this mission if he didn't think we were ready for it?" Sasuke scowled as his wounds twinge seemingly to mock his competence.  
  
A wry smile crept up the woman's face. "That's the _Hokage_'s prerogative."  
  
Naruto's widened. "The old ha, I mean, Tsunade-_obaasan_ ordered this?"  
  
Shizune sweatdropped. "Can't you call Tsunade-_sama _something other than 'old hag'? She is the _Godaime_ after all."  
  
Naruto pouted. "Why? I called _Sandaime_ 'old man' all the time."  
  
Shizune's sweatdrop became bigger. "I see."  
  
In the background, Sasuke's head dropped at his teammate's brilliant response. "_Dobe_."  
  
Shizune suddenly stood up, one hand silencing them.  
  
The boys tensed, readying themselves for a battle when...

"Yo! We're back." Kakashi moronically greeted the boys.  
  
Sasuke quickly quieted the about to explode Naruto when he saw the bundle that Chomaru carried.  
  
The serious look was back in Shizune's face. "May I?" She quietly asked the big man.  
  
Cautiously, Chomaru laid down his burden.  
  
Naruto and Sasuke eyes drank their fill of their missing teammate as the black blanket fell apart to reveal a familiar face.

"Sakura-_chan_!" Naruto exclaimed with relief.

"Shh, don't wake her, _dobe!"_  
  
A somewhat relieved smile crossed Shizune's face. "Thank goodness. Everything went well then?" Shizune remarked.  
  
Chomaru looked at the peacefully sleeping girl then to her teammates. His face was a mask. "Aa, everything's well."  
  
Shizune mechanically nodded as she began examining Sakura.  
  
Chomaru stood up. He placed a hand at Shizune's shoulder before facing the boys. "You boys should sleep already. We'll be heading home early tomorrow."  
  
Shizune reassuringly smiled at them. "Don't worry. I'll take care of Sakura."  
  
Naruto frowned before slowly tucking in to his sleeping bag. "Okay."  
  
Sasuke eyed them suspiciously before silently resting up as well.  
  
Shizune bit her lip in realization. "I see."  
  
Chomaru nodded sorrowfully before leaving as well.  
  
Shizune closed her eyes.  
  
A ninja's life is froth with peril, but some things are worse than death.

* * *

Flames and smoke. Shadows constantly changing from the flickering light of fire. Utter chaos and the heavy tang of fear in the air. In one word, WAR, this is what the people had expected to happen after the news broke out that Ishikawa Inoue was dead. He had been ASSASSINATED. This would have been the result if it had not been Fujiwara Kazuhiko who ascended as the new _daimyo_.  
  
After the initial shock wore off, it had been business as usual in the prosperous country of Lightning.

Ishikawa's death had meant zilch to the administration. Fujiwara had been the one in charge of the gritty day to day activities of the government anyway as Ishikawa's right hand man. It was even better for the government as they didn't have to deal with Ishikawa's excesses anymore.

To the common people, the change of government head didn't affect them.

The only ones who had been aggrieved were Ishikawa's toadies and suppliers who weren't exactly at the up and up and both types had mysteriously disappeared afterwards.

To the ones responsible for the assassination, things had gone exactly as planned.  
  
Kazuhiko blankly gazed at the shining city which he now ruled over. His cynicism kept his from appreciating the beauty of the country's capital as he knew exactly what lay beneath each sparkling window and glistening tile. He smirked at the image that only he could see, a vision superimposed over the shimmering glass panes of the city's many towering structures.

"Now for the next part..." He murmured to himself as he overlooked the spreading vista before him.  
  
"Congratulations, Lord of Lightning Country." A woman clad in pure white suddenly entered the daimyo's office. She slipped off her overcoat to practically reveal everything. The color's innocence was highly contrasted with the dress' cut which showed off every curve and contour of her shapely body. Her lips were a glazed rosebud and a pair of acorn-shaped pink crystals dangled from her ears. Her ebony black hair had been swept up tight, but a few tendrils were artistically left to dangle over the swell of her bosom.  
  
Kazuhiko merely frowned at the tempting woman before him. "What could the Lord, or to be more accurate, the LADY of Edge City be wanting with me?"  
  
Senada Aki pouted girlishly. "Tsk, tsk. You wound me with your sharp words, milord. How could you treat the LADY who helped you achieve you every desire like this?"  
  
Kazuhiko slunk towards Aki like a predator eyeing his prey. "Lady, eh?" He slammed her against the wall in an instant.  
  
She choked. "Stop this. I'll call the guards."  
  
"Do you think they'll barge in here when you came in wearing that?" He hissed against her ear. "You know as well as I do that they think I'm f#$%ing you right now. No one will be interrupting us, la-dy."  
  
Aki gasped. "You." She faltered as his hand tightened its grip around her neck. "I will tell."  
  
"Go ahead. Try it. There'll be a _kunai _in your throat the moment that you do." He abruptly released her. He smirked. "Besides who'll believe a slut like you?  
  
Aki woman fumed. Furious, she stood up. "You. You're just like Inoue. You like them young, don't you?" She mockingly motioned her hands at waist length.  
  
"Really?" Kazuhiko purred. He pinched her breast roughly. "And you," he breathed in her ear, "just want it rough and hard."  
  
Aki gasped in mixed pleasure and pain. "You know exactly what I want Kazu!" She gasped at his touch.  
  
He shoved her back to the floor and...

(Beep! Beep! Beep! The following scene has been cut short due to site conditions. Please just use your very creative imagination! Thank you!) "Kazu!" Aki gasped. She bonelessly lay on the floor, panting frantically. Her sleek limbs gleamed with sweat.  
  
Kazuhiko smirked at her. "I've already paid you far more than your services are worth, lady! So you better remember your part of the bargain which is to stay the hell away from me or else..." His tone gave a ring of finality to his words.  
  
Aki's eyes blazed with fury but she knew when to retreat too. It wasn't exactly child's play for a woman to be the leader of a border city. She stood up and grabbed the only remaining whole garment that she had left – her coat. "Of course, milord. I merely wish to personally express my delight at your good fortune." She bowed low. "I can see that I'm disturbing you. I'll be on my way then."  
  
Kazuhiko snorted as the door closed on its hinges. "Aki is as greedy as I expected. No matter she will behave." A sadistic smile crossed his face. "I've made sure of that. The only thing that matters now is the next part." 

__

__

_Tsuzuku... _


	5. Scarecrow

A Naruto fanfic by diana2megr  
  
Disclaimer: Naruto is the intellectual property of Misashi Kishimoto. Copyright by TV Tokyo, etc.  
  
Rating Warning: This story is PG-13 for now. Should I raise the rating? Nothing explicit, I swear!

A/N: Thank you to those who so kindly review

Shiroi Hikari: Yes at that moment, but not really since Sakura had been in Lightning Country a few days earlier. The result of that interlude will show up here! :p

Destiny1029: Thank you for thinking this story is worth reading! I'm happy! :)

* * *

Shattered by d2m  
  
Part 5: _Kakashi_ (Scarecrow)

* * *

Moonlight glinted off a shack of silver hair. The lone ninja finally picked his spot for the night. He was sure the Ino-Shika-Chou trio had picked their perimeter spots already. He had no intention of sleeping that night. He was certain that it would be filled of things he'd rather not think about still. Oh say of little girls and too big beds. Robes sliding off and... He ruthlessly cut off that train of thought.   
  
For once, he really wished he had never started reading _Icha Icha_ Paradise! Sakura needed her _sensei_ now more than ever and that does in any way pertain to anything perverted as his sick mind was just too quick to connect. Having a very green mind is a pain at times alright! In more ways than one at that!  
  
Kakashi wearily sighed. He could still feel the anger that he had been suppressing for the last few hours smoldering at the back of his mind right where he had shoved it earlier. He needed to work that out to.   
  
So many things to do. He had to help Sakura (somehow), work out the irrational anger that made him lash out at his fellow _jounin_ (not that he thinks he's being irrational) and figure out just what the hell was wrong with him to make him act this way (now that's a doozy). Kakashi needed to meditate.  
  
He had heard Chomaru sending the kids to sleep before he had slunk off to lick his wounds alone like an old wolf. He was a good guy really. Cared a lot for the brats and all. He didn't deserve being bitched at. It was HE who deserves a beating.  
  
Kakashi slumped against the tree trunk. Shikato was right. He had to get his act together. He'll just be a liability if he fails to pull himself together. But.   
  
He painfully closed his eyes. He had too many regrets. His team, Obito and now Sakura. They flashed across his thoughts, each somehow at their worst moment. Ruptured flesh. Gushing blood. A huge man above a girl...   
  
Seeing red, he smashed his fist into the unforgiving ground.   
  
Above all else, he had sworn never to be so weak as to let his team down again. But he did. Of all people, he had failed her, his twelve-year-old charge. He had promised his team that he wouldn't let any one of them die, but he had left her at a condition worse than death.   
  
And what about that little idiotic act earlier? Kakashi thought back to his words to the boys when he arrived. He was such a coward really. He couldn't even confront them regarding their teammate's condition. He left to – he shook his head mid-thought at the barrage of depressing contemplation. Since when had he become such a whiner anyway? Life's tough. So deal! That's HIS way!Kakashi almost felt relief when he sensed a presence behind him. It was familiar and it wasn't even trying to hide its self, so he wasn't too concerned.   
  
He should have been.  
  
"Hey mysterious masked man!" A sultry voice enticingly aroused from the darkness.  
  
He turned around and confronted - skin. Correction, make that a lot of skin. All creamy and rosy. Vibrant and glowing with health and youth.   
  
'Strawberries and cream,' his perverted mind fiendishly supplied. 'And hardly covered by that too small white robe,' it leeringly observed.   
  
He mindlessly just blinked at the vision before him. 'Too many curves,' the remaining rational part of his mind protested before it was tossed aside by very green thoughts and a lot of _ecchi _pictures. 'Brake needed!' It idiotically remarked.  
  
Kakashi felt his mouth dry. "Who?" Suddenly his nose bled when he saw her cleavage. Extensively. He tried to subtlety dry his bloody nose, which was an interesting sight, given that he had a mask across his face.  
  
She laughed at his too obvious actions. He had been staring at her chest so much that he didn't even see her face yet.   
  
"How cute! Are you having a nose bleed coz' of lil' ol' me, Kakashi-_sensei_?" She innocently asked. All the while, one perfectly manicured finger strategically toyed with the robe's edge to expose even more of her generously revealed bosom.  
  
Kakashi felt his eyes bulged out of its sockets as he finally recognized the presence he felt. It was the '_sensei_' suffix that nailed the coffin on that thought.   
  
"Sakura?" He gasped out.  
  
The body before him did not, could not!, in any way at all, belong to a twelve-year-old, but somehow it is Sakura or to be more precise what he always thought she'd look like when she grows up. Not that he imagined that at any time at all... well not THAT much!  
  
She slowly licked her lips. Her heated gaze sized him up knowingly.  
  
Kakashi knew the moment he had felt those verdant eyes on him that he has lost. The only he hope he has left was for something or preferably someone to interrupt them before things get out of hand. He had a feeling that with THIS Sakura it would.  
  
She seductively threw a carnation lock back over her shoulder to silkily cascade down to her shapely behind. "Nope. I'm Sara," her pouting lips carefully formed words that the shocked man could barely understand as she gracefully sashayed to him, "and I'm here to, hmm... how to put this?, 'thank you' for rescuing my lil' sis."   
  
The way her body moved when she emphasized the phrase 'thank you' did not leave Kakashi with any doubts as to how she planned to do that.   
  
He floundered helplessly as all the blood in his brain had rushed southward the moment she caressed his face. "Wha-? Stop this, Sakura!" He quickly protested vocally. His hand reached out to stop her.  
  
She hushed him with a finger quickly placed on his cloth-covered lips. "It's Sa – ra!" She slyly giggled after syllabicating her name deliberately.   
  
Flustered by his student's unusual actions, Kakashi quickly stepped back. "Sakura, you can't hide who you are from me not even with _henge_-"   
  
Without a word, she just as quickly cut him off again. This time she simply caught the hand that pushed her away and step into its touch.   
  
Kakashi's mind spazzed out as his hand rested on a part of his student's anatomy that he had never touched before. Not that it meant he was always touching her. No. What was bothering him was that he had never touched her in such as a familiar manner before. Such an intimate contact between this student and this teacher had been zilch before this.  
  
Sara seized this opportunity to take his mask off. Hooking the dark cloth with a pinky to leave her other fingers free to feathery sweep over his cheeks, she swooped up to his exposed lips the instant she beheld his face bare. Eyes half-lidded with passion, she expertly deepened their already breath-devouring kiss. Her sleek limbs had slunk around his torso to wind around his neck and tug at silver locks while his own had somehow instinctively wrapped itself around her lush body.   
  
Kakashi couldn't keep himself from groaning as she urgently tugged at his hair to bring him even closer. Her softness deliciously slid against his hard and lean physique just as the last thinking part of his mind cried out for help or even just any kind of disruption before all hell (or is it heaven?) break lose.   
  
Someone seems to be listening above as it was at this exact moment that Shizune arrived looking for Sakura who had mysteriously disappeared the second she had turned her back.   
  
"Kakashi! What's going on here?" Shizune exclaimed in surprise.  
  
At that moment, Kakashi didn't know whether to laugh or cry that somebody did arrive just before things could get further out of hand. He realized which when Sakura spoke up.  
  
"What do you want me to do, master?" The girl asked in a low and meek voice.  
  
"..." said the gaping like a fish out of water Kakashi which looks pretty stupid since his mask was pulled down.  
  
"..." said the surprised Shizune who's mouth was moving and yet no audible words were coming out.  
  
"..." said the obedient pink-haired girl who was waiting for the master's order quietly like any good servant.  
  
"..." said Shikato when he came upon this strange tableau of silent marionettes.  
  
...   
  
Rustle. Rustle. A rabbit jumped out of a bush.  
  
... ...   
  
Swish. Swish. The leaves swayed with the gentle breeze.  
  
... ... ...   
  
-_hou! A – hou ! A – hou_ ! A bird cried out in a distance.  
  
Shikato exhaled. "I lose. I spoke first. Now can someone tell me what's going on here?" The exasperated man asked in a resigned tone.  
  
...

...

...  
  
"Right," Shikato nodded knowingly. "I'm outta' here." He jauntily waved good-bye as he did a turnabout and went back to where a cheery little campfire was at least acting normally.  
  
"Wait!" Shizune cried out. Quickly pulling Sakura, which Kakashi obliviously still held in his arms, she shoved the girl to Shikato. "Bring her back to camp and watch over her."  
  
Seeing the fury in her face, the wise man (who is married to quite a woman) quickly obeyed the stronger sex.  
  
He should have laughed. Kakashi concluded as he continued to gape at both his hands and the furious woman before him. That way he could have at least convinced Shizune that he had gone insane. Sheepishly, he rubbed the back of his head and used his last resort. "Ah ha ha! You wouldn't believe me if I say I got lost in the road of life, would you?"  
  
The ache in his cheek and the resplendent scarlet hand mark in his face bore testimony to Shizune's wordless reply. He sighed as he trailed back to camp behind the huffing woman.   
  
"Shizune," he tried again.  
  
Ignoring him, the woman professionally fussed over the girl now peacefully sleeping inside her bag.  
  
Kakashi sighed. Again. He had a feeling he would be doing that a lot from now on. "We need to talk, Shizune-_san_." He exaggeratedly added the honorific to her name this time.  
  
Shizune continued to fret over Sakura.  
  
Kakashi continued to dog the woman who was making ignoring him an art form.  
  
The trio surreptitiously glanced at the strange interaction of the Copy _Nin_ and the medic _nin_.  
  
"I didn't know there was something between Kakashi and Shizune. _Ne_, Inoshi?" Chomaru theatretically whispered to Inoshi.   
  
The blonde ninja shrugged. "This is the first I've heard of this either. Something must have happened." Inoshi elbowed the dozing guy beside him. "What do you think, Shikato?"  
  
"It's none of our business. I'm going to sleep." The morose guy monotonously replied. He was tired and his bed was calling for him even if it was just a sleeping bag.  
  
"Shizune, I'm not going away and you could not fuss over Sakura forever." Kakashi patiently explained.  
  
Shizune frowned. "You're right. We need to talk." She shot daggers at the suddenly innocent trio who all found some other place they want to be. "ALL of us."

_Tsuzuku... _


	6. Spring's Promise

Disclaimer: Naruto is the intellectual property of Misashi Kishimoto. Copyright by TV Tokyo, etc.

A/N: Sorry for the delay, I got lost in the road of life...

* * *

Shattered by d2m

Part 6: Spring's Promise

* * *

The cackling of fire was the only noise that can be heard as the ninjas around it stared at anything and everything, but each other.

"Well?" Inoshi finally asked. Patience used up in the silent game of who goes first that they played.

Shizune took a deep breath, but her voice was calm when she finally spoke. "Sakura is suffering from a mental aberration. She has," the medic nin regretfully continued, "schizophrenia."

As one, understanding flashed across their faces and with knowledge pity came. In a profession as dangerous as theirs, insanity (aside from death and all other sorts of crippling physical and mental disabilities) was a common consequence. The Ino-Shika-Chou trio curiously turned to look at Sakura's sleeping bag.

"They abu-," Inoshi shook his head before changing his words, "broke her. She's just a child." His hands clenched as he thought of his own daughter in Sakura's place.

"The rumors about the Ishikawa's excesses were true." Shikato commented. His voice was bland, but there was anger in his eyes too. His child may be a boy, but he was a parent too. He could just imagine the anguish of the Haruno couple when they hear the news.

Chomaru worriedly glanced at Team 7's instructor. The masked _nin_ continued to keep his mouth shut. His body was tense. Not a single muscle moved except for the visible eye that reflected the flickering flames.

"Is there anything that we can do to help her, Shizune-_san_?" The 'butterfly' of the trio sympathetically asked.

Shizune glared at the Village's Technique Specialist. Her fierce scolding was too obviously directed at Kakashi. "For one thing, you shouldn't let her other personalities ran circles over you. You should know better than to let a mere child's mental aberrations get under your skin."

Kakashi grimly smirked at Shizune. "Don't worry, Shizune-_san_. I do have self-control despite what you think happened earlier."

Shizune snorted in disbelief. "It sure didn't look that way, Kakashi-_SENSEI_." A dollop of pure unadulterated disgust covered her tone.

The trio glanced at one another until Chomaru finally asked the one-million-dollar question that they all wanted answered. "Happened earlier?" The giant of a man questionably echoed his fellow _nin_. "What did happen, Kakashi?"

Kakashi glanced at his sleeping team. With any icy expression, he curtly reported the events that led to Shizune's arrival. "Sakura used _henge to _change her physical appearance to an older version of herself. She slunk in barely covered, asked me to call her Sara and tried to thank me for saving her younger sister," the change in his intonation betrayed in exactly what way Sara had intended to show her appreciation.

Chomaru's eyes widened. "Sara? Younger sister?"

"She tried to..." Inoshi grimaced at the idea. What if it had been his Ino? It was unbearable. She was too young. She was still his little princess. He didn't have to let go. Yet.

Shikato was deep in thought. His mind was wrapped upon other aspects. "Sister, eh?"

"Sakura, I guess. Sara seems to think she's different from her." Kakashi laconically answered.

Shizune's eyes gentled as she glanced at the troubled ninjas. "I see. My apologies for suspecting you, Kakashi-_san_."

Kakashi just shrugged it off. "Not your fault. The situation did look pretty damning since she suddenly changed back to being a child when you arrived."

Shizune guiltily nodded.

Kakashi closed his eyes.

Shizune couldn't even look at him.

Chomaru broke the awkward moment. He directed his inquiry to the embarrassed medic _nin_. "So a split personality doesn't think it's the same person?"

Shizune focused her thought's on the text book answer to other man's question. "It is a mental construction for her mind's protection."

"Sara must be how Sakura coped with Ishikawa." Shikato mused out loud.

"To cope with being used?" Inoshi angrily asked. Eyes ablaze, he demanded from the silver-haired _jounin_. "You did make the bastard suffer, right?"

Kakashi smiled unpleasantly. "Lightning Country will be looking for a new _daimyo_ by now."

The ninjas grimly grinned in self-satisfaction.

Shizune just rolled her eyes at the masochistic group, but a faint hint of the same sadistic pleasure slivered inside her.

"But what about Sakura?" Chomaru suddenly asked the medic _nin_. Concern was in his eyes. "Will she be... confined?"

Shizune solemnly looked at the concerned men about her. She sighed. "Probably. Until she gets well it will be for the best if she... stays in a sanitarium. For rehabilitation, you know?" She tried to make light of it, but the following silence told of her failure. They all knew the unvoiced condition that she deliberately left out.

"If ever, you mean." Kakashi bit out, a hint of bitterness tingeing his cool demeanor.

They all knew how tricky mental illnesses are. Recovery from them was more a matter of chance than science.

The trip back to Konoha was as somber as the trip to Edge City was boisterous.

* * *

Back in the Hidden Village of Konoha, a familiar roseate color was easily detected among the field of green underneath a gnarled old tree. In a sudden whirl of leaves, a white-robed ANBU abruptly appeared before the startled woman.

The pink-haired woman sniffled as she tried to stop her tears. Uncharacteristically gentle, the ANBU lightly wiped the moisture with a gloved finger. "Shin-ji," she hiccuped his name.

The mask muffled the man's voice but she heard his words clearly.

"Don't worry, Mayura. She'll be home soon. The Ino-Shika-Chou trio is very reliable. Not to mention the powerhouse that her team is!"

Mayura angrily beat her husband's chest. "That Kyubi child and the Uchiha survivor who returned after turning traitor do not in any way relieve me of my worries!"

Shinji wrapped his hand around hers. "Actually, I was referring to her team's leader, the Village's Technique Specialist. Besides," he lifted his mask to rest at curly brown locks. Leaf green eyes alight with confidence caught the woman's gaze, "he used to be ANBU."

The whistling of the wind signaled the arrival of a black-robed ANBU. "Sir, they have arrived."

The brunette flipped his mask back. "We will see you later." He offhandedly remarked before disappearing with his subordinate.

Mayura smiled at the nebulous comment. He had just stated that he would be home tonight... with Sakura. The wind carried her words as she started to walk home. "I'll make a wonderful welcome home dinner for you two, Shinji."

Underneath his mask, Shinji felt his lips turn up when he heard her words. Putting it at the back of his mind, he continued his trek with Lan, his fellow ANBU.

The two flew, true like arrows, right through the city and into the _Hokage's _Office.

Shinji straightened up as they ended at the office's landing. His back straight, he strode forward when his subordinate spoke up.

"Sir... about your daughter." His voice was tense and a frightening truth laced it with poison.

Shinji stopped but he didn't turned around. "I understand, Lan. Thank you. Now, return to your task."

"Hai." The black-robed ANBU went back to his patrol.

Shinji confidently walked into a nightmare.

Inside the room, Shinji saw at once what he wanted to see. Hair the color of spring's promise. It singularly stood out in the blandly colored room. He felt relief at seeing his daughter standing on her own before the _Godaime_ whose hand was resting on those carnation locks.

The gorgeous blonde woman motioned to the ANBU to remove his mask. She gently smiled at the upturned face. "Sakura, your father is here to take you home."

Shinji anticipated seeing his daughter's face again after the dangerous mission she had undertaken to Edge City and... her subsequent abduction. He almost smiled at seeing those verdant eyes upon him. He didn't. It was at that moment when she suddenly clutched at the _Godaime _like she was a lifeline.

"NO! No! Please, ma'am," Sakura begged in a voice shaky with fear.

The door banged open at the commotion. "Godaime-sama?"

All the people in the room stared at the girl in shock as she continued to cry and shriek.

"I'm not YOUR daughter! I'm NOT!"

"Sakura?" Shinji confoundedly asked a hand outstretched to calm his screaming daughter.

It only made things worse.

Tsunade motioned for the door to be closed with the background of Sakura's screams.

"I'm not YOURS! Not yours..."

In one swift move, the _Godaime _knocked out the hysterical girl. Bonelessly, the child collapsed into the older woman's waiting arms.

Shinji looked at his leader in shock. "What? What happened?"

Sakura's cry seemed to echo in the suddenly silent room. "Not yours..."

The ninjas who knew could not bear to face the troubled father.

Kakashi stepped forward. "Shinji," he faltered when the man faced him.

"Say it, Kakashi. What happened?"

"He," Kakashi tried to think of a tactful way of saying what he saw, "broke her."

"Broke?" Shinji parroted in disbelief. "He tortured my daughter? Why? Why would he torture a child?"

Kakashi kept eye contact with the overwhelmed man. "Not exactly..."

Furious, Shinji grabbed the other's vest in anger. "Damn it! Speak up, Kakashi! What EXACTLY happened to my daughter?"

A hand clasped around Shinji's wrist. It was the _Godaime_. "Stop, Shinji. Screaming at Kakashi will not help your daughter. I was going to allow you to hear their report but if you could not be calm then..."

The ANBU stepped back. His eyes were closed in intense concentration. "Fine! Fine, I'll be quiet. I won't ask questions until the report's done."

The fierce blue eyes of the _Godaime _gentled as she looked at the suffering father. "I know it's difficult. Perhaps it would be better if you wait until..."

"No!" Shinji sharply looked up to his leader. "No, _Godaime-sama_. Please, let me stay. I want to hear everything first hand."

Kakashi monotonously reported the disaster that was Team 7's mission. "En route to our mission objective, we were ambushed by bandits a few hours away from Edge City. While the rogues were easily no match for us even with their superior number, it was not until the THIRD attack wave that it all fell apart..."

* * *

"What the?" Sakura exclaimed as her senses tingled warning her of danger. She quickly kicked the rogue that she had been fighting right into the path of a _kunai _flying straight for her kidney. "_Kunai_?" She muttered to herself. She shouted to her teammates upon realizing the great change in the level of their enemies. "_Nin_!"

"Eh?" Naruto asked when his clones suddenly began to disappear one after another in abrupt bursts of smoke. "So the ninjas wanted to come next, eh? Bring it on! I'll kick ALL of your dumb asses!"

Sasuke like Sakura used a rogue he had been beating up for a human shield. "Dobe, we're surrounded."

"Where's Kakashi-_sensei_?" Sakura worriedly asked as obviously _kage bunshin_ (a lot of them!) of one _nin _sadistically laughed at the genin team.

"Don't worry, Sakura-_chan_! We don't need Kakashi-_sensei_. I can handle this myself!" Naruto exuberantly proclaimed.

"_Dobe._" Sasuke muttered under his breath.

"What did you say?"

"Naruto, stopped picking on Sasuke-_kun_."

"Idiot _genin_!" The unknown ninja shouted as his clones closed in on the distracted team.

Blood spurted from where the _kunai_ struck. A cloud of smoke enveloped the area where the arguing _genin_ team used to be.

Wrapped up by wires in a tree trunk, the dying _nin _looked at surprise at the _kunai_ in his chest. He looked at his killer. It was a pink-hair girl who had thrown the _kunai_. "You?" He gurgled up blood.

"You're even more of an idiot than the _dobe _here." Sasuke smugly informed him as he died. He released the end of the wires that he had used on the now dead ninja.

"Stop calling me dobe, Sasuke-_baka_!" Naruto protested angrily. "You couldn't have done if it haven't been for my clones. Don't steal the limelight!"

"It was Sakura who struck the finishing blow." Sasuke shrugged out that tiny almost compliment.

Sakura beamed at the avenger. "Thank you, Sasuke-_kun_."

Naruto kicked the innocent rock lying on the floor. "Sasuke-_baka _always hugs all the good spots!"

Sakura gave him another bump in the head. "_Baka_, I was going to say you did great too! Why do you have to be so whiny?"

Naruto quickly recovered. "Yeah! Well, but ain't I the greatest, Sakura-_chan_?" He yelled to the girl straightening up on a tree branch.

Sakura sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Why don't we," she never got to finish her sentence as Sasuke suddenly shoved her off the branch. It exploded less than a second later hurling the Uchiha survivor hard against a thick branch. In an instant, shocked boy had been pinned with _kunai _to a tree trunk.

"SASUKE-_KUN_!" Sakura shouted in disbelief, when she was suddenly drenched in blood.

"Sakura, stick to Naruto!" Kakashi curtly ordered as he countered a _kunai _thrown at his back while he had been dispatching the ninja who was about to attack Sakura.

"Kakashi-_sensei_!" Naruto yelled at the busy jounin.

Sakura quickly launched herself towards Naruto who was busy fighting yet another _nin_. Thinking fast, she performed an ordinary _bunshin _seal and sent her three clones to attack from three sides. She threw a _kunai_ from above. It missed but Naruto didn't. The _nin _was surprised to find a glowing fist at his gut before he was blown off (and killed) by Naruto's _rasengan_.

"He, he! Thanks, Sakura-chan!" Naruto gave his usual foxy smile at the girl who landed beside him.

Sakura smiled at the blonde. "I guess, we did pretty good - Naruto!" The girl suddenly screamed at the unsuspecting kid. Behind the blonde was another _nin_ and he had unleashed a huge chakra blast straight at Naruto.

Surprised, Naruto turned around to see bright blue light and then... he was flying.

Naruto furiously stood up when he saw the new arrival knock Sakura unconscious. "Sakura!"

"_Sensei_!" Sakura cried out in fear when a whirl of white suddenly appeared. As her world darkened, the last thing that the pink-haired _genin _heard was Naruto's shout.

Naruto jumped to attack the man who just slung his teammate over his shoulder. "No way are you-"

The man nodded at the ninja who knocked out the noisy blonde.

They left... and the forest now had an unnatural clearing full of bodies.

It was this scene which greeted the Ino-Shika-Chou trio and the team's medic _nin_, Shizune.

* * *

Shizune cleared her throat. "Pardon the interruption, Tsunade-_sama_," she slightly bowed her head to Kakashi and the _Godaime_, "allow me to continue as Kakashi-_san_ was unconscious at that moment."

Kakashi acknowledged this and leaned a bit more heavily than usual against the wall. The _jounin _closed his eyes looking for all the world like he fell asleep standing but, he was carefully listening to Shizune's report until she reached the part where they (more precisely – he) had found out about 'Sara.'

"Sara?" Shinji muttered under his breath.

Kakashi deliberately blot out the images that the mere mention of her name brings to mind.

The _Godaime _glanced at the child she had lain on the sofa. "I see. Thank you, Shizune."

The ninjas kept their peace as the famous Medic Specialist laid a manicured hand on the child's forehead. Her hand glowed with chakra for a minute and then...

"Shinji," she asked the man who hadn't looked up from the floor since Kakashi started his report.

"_Godaime-sama_," Shinji sorrowfully faced the blonde woman, "please."

Tsunade held up her hand. "You don't have to say it, Shinji. I'll see to her myself. However, I want YOU to go home now. I'll send a messenger immediately when you can see her already."

"But!"

"No. Go home to your wife, Shinji. I'm sorry."

The distraught father turned around and saw Kakashi reading _Icha Icha _Violence. The _jounin_ had whipped out his old book in the middle of Shizune's report.

"Kakashi," Shinji demanded the man to face him. He was furious and seeing the _ecchi_ novel that the jounin was reading didn't exactly placate him after what he had heard.

"Hmm?" Kakashi blandly intoned, as he seemed to continue his reading.

Shinji sliced the book with a _kunai_ that Kakashi blocked with his own. Paper rained in the _Hokage's _Office. Paper and... pictures?

Tsunade frowned. "Shinji, stop! Go home-" She lost her voice when she saw the pictures.

Shizune gasped. The trio gaped. Shinji saw red.

"You! BASTARD!"

Shinji attacked the surprised Kakashi who had hidden in his book pictures of barely dressed and naked girls. The pictures had one thing in common which had enraged the ANBU. The pictures were all of a nine-year-old Sakura.

_Tsuzuku... _


	7. Flames

Disclaimer: Naruto is an intellectual property of Misashi Kishimoto. Copyright by TV Tokyo, etc.

A/N: This was supposedly a 7-part fic only, but my, ah, so called muse came up with a new ending. Not to mention this part is too long already! Thank you to all you reviewers. You keep me going. Special note to reviewers at the end.

* * *

Shattered by d2m 

Part 7: Flames

* * *

"Wait!" Kakashi shouted as he evaded and blocked those that he can't attacks of the enraged father who was brutally using _taijutsu_, sort of. The ANBU was so far gone in his rage that he was ferociously punching and kicking just for the satisfaction of feeling the impact on flesh. 

"WAIT? Why should I f#$%king listen to the bastard who ABUSED my daughter when she was just NINE years old?" The bloodthirsty father snapped out with hard words and harder fists. "I knew there was something fishy going on back then!"

"Shinji, let me explain!" Kakashi gasped as he tried to get through the red blanket of fury that enveloped the older man.

"What's there to explain? You are nothing more than a scumbag pedophile that drove my little girl insane! Die!" The ANBU flipped a _kunai_ from his holster in a blink of an eye and... froze.

Kakashi also stood unnaturally still. He had one hand extended and it was armed too. The Copy Ninja had been as swift as the ANBU. His visible eye however had turned to the _jounin_ that had stopped both Shinji and him in one move.

"_Godaime-sama_ had something to say." Shikato monotonously announced as his shadow bound the two. "We should listen to the _Hokage_ as we are Konoha _shinobi, ne?"_

"Finally!" The _Godaime_ exhaled violently. She placed a hand on the frozen ANBU. "Shinji, I'm as shocked as you are, but Kakashi should be given a chance to explain. There are too many possible-"

"EXPLAIN?!" Shinji thundered. "What's there to explain? The a$%hole obviously murdered his OWN team just to hide the fact that he was the one who abducted my daughter more than 3 years ago!"

Kakashi's eye narrowed. "I-" He indignantly started when the furious father cut him off with a murderous glance and even sharper words.

"To think I pitied you! I was a fool to think that you retired from ANBU out of GRIEF for lost comrades..." The ANBU sneered at his own naiveté. To be truthful, he had admired the Copy Ninja's skills after that incident. It had been an inspiration for him to train more.

"Release me, Shikato!" The white-robed body shook with futile fury at failing to break the shadow bind of the nonchalant ninja. He glared at the bored man. He had been rendered immobile. Helpless. Inutile. It was just like that time - three years ago his marriage was falling apart, he couldn't relate with his timid daughter and just after he came back from a mission, she was gone...

* * *

"That's it!" Mayura screamed at the man who had turned his back on her. "I can't take this anymore! I'm leaving and I'm taking Sakura with me!" 

Shinji sighed. His hand pushing curly brown locks back in stress. He didn't shout but his voice was cold and curt. "Fine! Go, I'm sick of how things are too! But there's no way that you're taking my daughter."

The infuriated woman threw a plate at him.

He took a simple step to the right.

The ceramic shattered in the shining floor of the kitchen which bore silent testimony to years of Mayura's cleansing streak.

"Hah! YOUR daughter? Since when did you care?" Mayura scoffed at him with a sneer on her face. "It's impossible for you to take care of a nine-year-old girl when you can't even keep this marriage from falling apart. I must have been high when I agreed to marry a ninja of all people!"

Shinji clenched his hand to keep himself from doing something that he'll regret. "I'm not the only one responsible for this relationship and you know very well from the start what kind of life I lead."

Mayura screeched in a voice that could be heard a block away. "Oh? So now it's my fault again?!" She snatched another plate off the rack. It sailed faster and farther than the first to crash into the kitchen's wall.

"Can you please keep it down? Your shrieking is embarrassing." Shinji icily commanded the wrought-up woman.

"EMBARRASSING!" Mayura shrieked as she threw a bowl this time. It followed the other broken crockery on the floor. "I'LL GIVE YOU EMBARRASSING!!"

Shinji shook his head in apathy. "I don't have time for this. I have a mission. I'll be back in a week. " He turned around and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"DAMNIT, DON'T YOU DARE RUN AWAY! COWARD!!" Mayura shouted at empty air. Tears filled her scarlet eyes. She slumped down the cold floor surrounded by ceramic pieces. She picked up a plate shard. Its sharp edge glinted from the sunlight streaming down from the window. "God what a fool I am!"

Her marriage was as shattered as the pieces of the dining set surrounding her on the cold floor.

Eyes cold with fury she swept away the broken crockery and violently dumped it into the garbage bin.

Enough was enough. She was returning to Edge City.

By the end of the day, she had packed up only the most basic things that a mother and child would need. She reasoned that since she was going home, she didn't need to pack much. That night, she informed the neighbors that she was going on a two-week vacation. The following day, she informed Sakura that they were going on a trip.

With a backpack slung over a shoulder, a _bento_ in one hand and Sakura's hand in the other, Mayura perfunctorily informed Iruka-_sensei_ that Sakura would not be attending class for two weeks.

It would be two MONTHS before Sakura returned to the Ninja Academy.

* * *

When Shinji came home to an empty home, he thought Mayura had gone out and Sakura was still in school. After a few hours, he decided to pick up his daughter in the Ninja Academy instead of wasting time waiting for his wife. He realized what Mayura had done after talking with Iruka_-sensei._ In that instant, he understood with his heart the truth of an age-old saying, you don't know what you have until you lose it. 

In a flash, he went to the _Hokage_'s Office to ask for leave. He didn't expect for ANBU to verily sweep him inside the office.

"_Sandaime-sama_?" Shinji asked in confusion at the ANBU's action.

"Haruno Shinji," The _Sandaime_ looked up from the scroll he was reading. "Please sit down."

Shinji readily sat at the chair before the Hokage's table. "Is there anything wrong, _Sandaime-sama_?"

The old man laced his hands together before resting it on the desk. "I'm sorry to be the herald of bad news, but your wife has been hospitalized-"

Shinji felt his jaw drop. "Mayura? Is it serious?"

The _Sandaime_ halted him with a palm up before continuing. "Your mother-in-law sent a message to me asking that you be informed of your wife's confinement in Edge City Hospital and that," the old man leaned forward, "your daughter has been abducted."

"WHAT?" Shinji abruptly stood up.

The _Sandaime_ motioned for the shocked man to sit down who dazedly complied. "Shinji, be calm. Haruno Sakura is a citizen of Konoha and a _kunoichi_-in-training. We will not abandon one of our own." The old man comfortingly smiled. "Kakashi here," He moved his head towards the ANBU with a mop of silver hair atop his head, "and his team will be pursuing the abduction. Your mission is to stay with Haruno Mayura, just in case Sakura isn't the only target."

"I, I don't understand. Why was Sakura abducted? Who took her?" Shinji looked to his leader for answers. The anguish was evident in his verdant eyes.

The _Sandaime_ stood up. "I already have an inkling of what might have happened that's why I'm sending ANBU with you. Kakashi," He nodded at the ANBU to continue.

Kakashi faced the worried father. "Edge City is a frontier town. It's smack at the boundary between Fire Country and Lightning Country, but its allegiance is to Fire Country. However, the town has a problem with white slavery due to its, well, STRATEGIC position." He vaguely waved a gloved hand in the air. "The age of your daughter combined with the fact that no ransom was asked makes it more likely that she had-"

Shinji reached for the ANBU. "Wait! You're not saying that, that-"

Kakashi took a step back. "Haruno Sakura is probably another victim of white slavery."

"Masaka..." Shinji slumped back down the chair to cradle his head on the palm of his hands. 

The _Sandaime_ linked his hands behind him. "It will be alright, Shinji. I'm sending the best to retrieve your daughter."

"_Hai." _Shinji bowed deeply to the _Hokage_. "_Arigato gozaimasu, Sandaime-sama."_

The _Sandaime_ smiled. "I will be waiting for good news, Kakashi."

Kakashi calmly acknowledged the _Sandaime's_ words before instructing Shinji to be ready to leave early the following day as it was too late already.

* * *

Shinji and the ANBU team journey was an uneventful affair. By the time they arrived in Edge City, Haruno Mayura had recovered already. They quickly conducted an investigation which led them to believe that Sakura had been taken beyond the border (as they expected). The ANBU team and the Haruno couple parted ways at this point as the _Hokage's _elite forces infiltrated deep into Lightning Country, while the troubled couple returned to Konoha to wait for news there.

A bit more than a week later, a single ANBU brought the child back to Konoha. It was Kakashi. His team died in the midst of the mission they undertook. The team's deceased were all declared heroes and their names were inscribed on the memorial rock. The Copy Ninja retired from ANBU. Haruno Sakura entered a sanitarium for rehabilitation and was miraculously released within a week's period. She returned to the Ninja Academy with but wispy memories of her time in Edge City and nothing more. The _Sandaime _wrapped up in secrecy the events of this mission for Sakura's privacy. The only records left of the mission were the medical ones kept by the sanitarium (which were strictly confidential) and the personal report for the _Hokage_.

Shinji reconciled with his wife in this trying period. He began to train for ANBU afterwards. His daughter's return by the ANBU encouraging him to strive for the same position.

* * *

The _chakra _of infuriated father flared up. He was being mired in the memories of that time he spent helplessly waiting. 

"You're despicable. You killed your team to hide the fact that you, you ABUSED my daughter. Admit it! You didn't rescue my daughter. You just dragged her to another hell. If there was even abduction by unknown assailants in the first place!" Shinji maliciously accused Kakashi.

Kakashi tried to shake his head, but he still couldn't move. "That's not true. I-"

"You could just have hired some thugs to kidnap her for you and then disposed of your team. Admit it, you damn pedophile!" Shinji bitterly. "You retired from ANBU to be a _jounin_ instructor, who never passed a team until it was, suspiciously enough, my daughter's. You were just waiting for your chance to have her as your subordinate, weren't you?!"

"No," Kakashi vehemently answered back. "Team 7 passed my test THAT'S why I agreed to instruct them. It wasn't because of Sakura!"

"How convenient it must be that Sakura just HAPPENED to be part of Team 7 then! Bull$#t! Well, I'm on to you now. You're not going to hurt my little girl anymore coz you're going to die right here!" Shinji suddenly broke free from Nara's shadow bind.

"Release me!" Kakashi snapped at Shikato who was wincing in pain as the ANBU overcame his _jutsu_. He quickly moved when he saw the ANBU forming hand seals.

The _Godaime _had enough however. "Stand down, ANBU!" She enforced her words with a quick jab at the gut.

Shinji practically flew backwards before slamming against the office's wall. He groggily began to stand up when the door suddenly burst open again. "_Godaime-sama_?"

"Restrain him!" The _Godaime _snapped at the guards.

"_Hai!_" The first quickly tied up the still dazed man, while the second divested him of his weapons. "Shall we take him to the incarceration cell, _Godaime-sama_?"

"Hmm, no. Bring him to the hospital but keep him in a secure room." The _Godaime _turned to her assistant. "Shizune, go with them. Use a tranquilizer. Keep him calm until I get to the bottom of this mess. Oh, take the girl as well. Same orders."

"Hai, Tsunade-_sama_." Shizune brought Sakura, while the guards took the dazed ANBU.

The blonde woman exhaled sharply. "Well Kakashi," she jabbed a finger at the ninja. "Care to explain why I shouldn't strip you of rank and banish you from this Village right now?"

Kakashi stiffly straightened up. His visible eye was steely with determination. "I refute all of his accusations. I'm neither a traitor nor a pedophile. I didn't kill my teammates. The _Sandaime _believed me. He-"

- is dead, so he can't vouch for you." The _Godaime _waved her hands wearily. "Never mind that, just answer this: why do you have pictures of Sakura looking like that and just at the age when she was abducted?" She curtly asked pointing at a particular picture of a drenched with water Sakura wearing a practically translucent white robe with one finger in her lips.

Kakashi clenched and unclenched his fists as he remembered. The fury he buried at the back of his mind flared up again. "I found it in Ishikawa's room. I couldn't just leave it there so I took it. I was going to burn it later, but I guess I forgot about it in the trouble with her Sara persona."

"_Godaime-sama!"_ A _Chunin_ suddenly popped in.

"What now?" The _Godaime _asked in exasperation.

"The new _daimyo_ of Lightning Country, Fujiwara Kazuhiko, is at the Village Gate. He's requesting an audience with you as soon as possible, _Godaime-sama_. He is accompanied by a single retainer." The _Chunin_ efficiently reported.

"Damn it all! Now? What's next a snow storm?" The pissed off _Godaime _ranted. She shook her head before ordering the _Chunin_. "Have him escorted to the Mission Hall. I will be there shortly. Treat him well, but be wary for any hidden agenda."

"_Hai_,_ Godaime-sama!"_ The _Chunin_ popped out of the room.

"Inoshi," The _Godaime _bluntly called the blonde ninja who was warily eyeing his leader.

"Hai,_ Godaime-sama?"_ Inoshi carefully asked.

"You know what to do." The _Godaime _calmly replied.

"_Hai_." Inoshi briefly dipped his head in response. He too disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The _Godaime's _penetrating gaze looked as if it could pierce through bone and bare the mind of the still indignant Copy Ninja. "Kakashi, this interrogation isn't over, but for now you're to backup Inoshi. Stay within MY sight, but out of this new feudal lord's. Step even a toe out of line and I will have you declared a traitor in an instant. Shikato, Chomaru," she briskly ordered the remaining ninjas, "come along. You two are my bodyguards for this meeting."

"_Hai_,_ Godaime-sama."_

In the meantime within a certain administrative building in Konoha, The new feudal lord of Lightning Country stood in a busy hall with a tall lean man who's face was covered with a white scarf. Kazuhiko icily smiled when a beautiful blonde woman with a diamond shaped mark on her forehead appeared in a puff of smoke. "Good day, _Hokage-sama_."

"Fujiwara-_sama_," the _Godaime_ graciously smiled at the regal man. "Congratulations on your recent, should I say, promotion? It must have been a tiring journey from Lightning Country. So tell me," golden eyes narrowed slightly as it peered at the feudal lord. "What can Konoha do for you?"

"Thank you for your gracious greetings,_ Hokage-sama_." Kazuhiko smoothly replied. "I'm overwhelmed by your sentiments, but as you've said it's been a long journey. I do hope you'll forgive me if I go straight to the point."

"I would prefer that Fujiwara-_sama_." The _Godaime_ replied just as blandly.

The man beside the feudal lord tensed as casually gave his request. "I have come here for Haruno Sakura."

All hell broke loose then.

_Tsuzuku..._

* * *

Metalicgal – I'm stealing another of Kakashi's lines, look beneath the beneath (or something like that!) 

Maya – Kazu (short for Kazuhiko) is the new _daimyo_ (feudal lord) of Lightning Country. I don't remember mentioning the _Raikage _(Lightning Shadow) of the Hidden Village of Cloud. From what I understand of the Naruto world politics, the 5 great ninja villages are symbolic of their respective country's strength, but it's somewhat independent from their country. (Note: ninja villages have their own source of income and their clients aren't exclusively from their country. They even compete with each other to get the other ninja village's clients.) So in this fic, ninjas aren't the only kind of fighter as castles have to have guards and feudal lords can't just order around ninjas in their country to do guard duty (not without paying for a mission anyway).

Thank you for the advice on the paragraphing and the opening. I'll keep that in mind when I start a new fic.

Destiny1029: Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!

Kaiyo no Hime: I'm beginning to wonder myself what sort of Kakashi character is in my head. He kinda booted Inner Sakura out and took over in directing this fic.

Cuito: It's Kakashi's fault. He's orchestrating the fic.

Shiroi Hikari: Well, I was going to post this later, but a slave driver insisted I post it now before more people thinks he's a pedophile.


	8. End

Disclaimer: Naruto is the intellectual property of Misashi Kishimoto. Copyright by TV Tokyo, etc.

A/N: Sorry for the long delay. _Muchos gracias_ to all who reviewed. If you like (or not) this story, then try my Itachi fic. I'm trying another style with it. Oh yeah, weird ending, I know, but that's just how it turned out. This monster had a life of its own, you know...

* * *

Shattered by d2m

Part 8: _Owari _(End)

* * *

The Mission Hall was a busy place. It was always bustling with people making requests, administration officials assigning missions to ninjas and ninjas entering with reports and leaving with new missions. In a normal day, motion was the theme of this hub.

But not today.

Today was an exception.

For today, everything was at a stand still and silent. It was so much so that even breathing was too loud.

In the central table, a gorgeous blonde woman was silently appraising the regal lord who dropped the silencing bomb/news and his still apathetic black-haired retainer.

Coolly, Tsunade laced her finger together. "Haruno Sakura." The name rolled off her tongue smoothly. It came from practice. "How interesting. Now that's a name that had been cropping up a lot lately and not in good way either." Her golden eyes flashed with suppressed anger. "Do explain further, Fujiwara-_sama_. We would not want any misunderstanding between Leaf and Lightning, now would we?"

Kazuhiko dramaticallysighed. He tapped his forehead with a finger. "And here I thought I said it clearly enough for ANYONE to understand." His smile was anything, but pleasant. "Isn't the _Hokage_ suppose to be the BEST ninja in Leaf?" He asked in a tone rich with innuendo before mockingly shaking his head in pseudo regret. "How sad must be the state of this Village then."

"I assure you, Fujiwara-_sama_." Tsunade's voice evenly dripped with sarcasm. "This Village is faring better than, say, Lightning? Oh my, is the new _daimyo_ out of the country so soon after that, hmm, recent disturbance, eh? Whatever could he be doing?"

Kazuhiko lazily smiled and was cut-off by his retainer before he could make another repartee after the _Godaime_'s last verbal strike.

"Enough!" The black-haired retainer irately exclaimed as he stepped forward.

Piqued with the petty quarreling, Akira yanked down the scarf covering his face and petulantly worried the black cloth. "Jeez, Kazu!" The annoyed man dramatically rolled his eyes at his lord who was suddenly finding the empty wall fascinating. "If you're just itching for a verbal sparring match, you could do that as well at home. Look _Hokage_," the irritated man crassly pointed a finger straight at the blonde woman. "We didn't come here for a quarrel. Kazu here," Akira's chin jerked backwards, "-just can't let go. I suppose it's something like he's responsible for that little brat he saved all those years ago. Well," the rambling man continued his rabid rant, "I suppose it's sorta have to do with not letting something he had wasted so much effort on to go poof! and not in that cloud of smoke thing way that you ninjas do either! That BRAT has one hell of a messed up soupy mix mind!"

Tsunade raised one golden eyebrow at the incomprehensible explanation. She lifted the second at the platinum blonde radiating doom and hell better than the sun throws off light waves. "So," she curiously asked, "when did you first meet Sakura then?"

"Why are you asking what you already know?" Kazuhiko grimly shot back. He had seen the comprehension dawn in the blonde woman's flaxen eyes. He impassively met her gaze. "It was three years ago, of course. Didn't the infamous Copy Ninja tell you?"

Tsunade involuntarily glanced at the area where Kakashi was hiding.

Kazuhiko predatorily smiled at the telltale action.

Tsunade silently cursed in her head for allowing the bratty Lightning lord get the better of her.

"Why are you hiding in the shadows, Kakashi-_san_? Do you have anything to hide? For example," the platinum blonde addressed the seemingly empty space, "how you were able to rescue a nine-year-old girl from the clutches of the most powerful man in Lightning Country three years ago?"

A voice came forth from the apparently clear area. A ninja with a head full of silver hair stepped forth from the concealing darkness. "I see, so it was you who caused the commotion at that time."

"Nothing happens in Lightning Country that I don't know about." Kazuhiko airily waived off the other man's accusation.

"Really? So my survival was your choice then?" Kakashi mockingly queried.

"Your lucky you have such a distinguishing mark." Kazuhiko blandly insinuated. His blue eyes were fixed on the slanted _hiate,_ which covered the transplanted _Sharingan_ eye.

Tsunade cast a sublime suspicious glance at the ninja.

Kakashi warily eyed the lord. He indulged himself with a sigh. "_Godaime-sama_," he stopped as Kazuhiko maliciously laughed at the situation before him.

"Hmm, what's this? Have you been keeping secrets from your _Hokage?_ Why? Is she that unreliable, Kakashi-_san_ or have you managed to pick more than a toy from Ishikawa?" His malevolent smirk blared to the world his opinion of what else Kakashi might have copied from the recently deceased _daimyo_.

"That's it!" Kakashi had enough. It had been a hell of a time. He wasn't going to take anymore bull$t be it from the _Hokage_ or this sadistic lord. He slowly lifted the cloth covering the _Sharingan_ eye. Three black pinwheels eerily spun in a background of red iris. "I think it's time that I make-up for my rudeness then, _ne?_ Let me show you, just how much I appreciate your actions."

"Really? How do you plan to do that, child molester?" Kazuhiko drolly asked the ninja, while his hand seemingly aimless began to drift towards the cloth bounding his hair.

Three mouths were opening to reply, but none got a word out when the door suddenly banged open. A pink blur protectively jumped in front of Lightning's new _daimyo_.

"I won't allow you to hurt Kazu-_niisama_!" Sakura passionately exclaimed. Her arms were outstretched to cover as much as possible of the obviously taller man.

The stunned populace gaped at the sight. The drama ongoing in the hall surpassed the soaps on the idiot box.

"Sakura," Kazuhiko murmured. Seemingly on its own, his hand rested itself on pink locks. He closed his eyes reflectively. The storms had passed when he gazed up at the ninjas in the room. "Enough," he murmured reflectively. "You're right, Sakura. _Hokage-sama_," he addressed the Village's leader who had risen from her seat, "this discussion is utterly useless. I will talk to her parents instead. I'm sure they'll see reason."

Shizune suddenly popped up, interrupting the showdown. "Tsunade-_sama_," she cried out urgently.

Tsunade waved her off. "Sakura's here."

Sakura glared at the _Godaime_. "I still don't see why you have to ask my parents. I want to stay with you. I utterly hate this place!"

"Because brat, it will be kidnapping if Kazu doesn't. But heck," Akira guffawed. "I'm sure your parents would be eager to throw away junk like you."

Sakura dropkicked the still laughing man. "Don't compare me to you, idiot!"

Akira sidestepped the obvious attack as Kazuhiko quickly held the girl back with the collar of her robes. "Sakura." He warned the enthusiastic personality.

Sakura quickly quieted down. "I'm sorry, Kazu-_niisama_. The idiot just makes me so mad."

Tsunade meticulously took note of the interaction among the child and the men. She blinked. Her decision was made. "Perhaps we should our talk start anew, Fujiwara-_sama_."

Kazuhiko quickly returned his attention to the foreboding woman before him. "Very well, _Hokage-sama_. That is what I came here for."

Tsunade nodded. "What exactly would you have discussed with the Harunos then?"

"I want to adopt Sakura." Kazuhiko swiftly motioned with his hand. "Please don't interrupt me. I know quite well that her parents are alive. However that doesn't change the fact that it would be beneficial to everyone concerned if she is released to my custody. As you all know, Sakura had been through some, how to put this?" he absently asked. "Shall we say difficult experiences at the hand of the ex-feudal lord of Lightning? As the new lord, I thought it would be fitting compensation for Sakura to become a princess of our land after everything she have been through."

Kazuhiko's announcement brought about another round of drop the jaw and gape idiotically audience moment.

Tsunade recovered first. "You want to adopt her?"

"Kazu-_niisama!"_ Sakura exclaimed. Pure adoration painted her face.

Kazuhiko patted her head. "It's best to legalize our relationship since I think of you as family already." He turned towards the _Hokage_. "It's a good deal for Leaf really. You'll have Lightning Country's support if you agree and you need all that you can get after the attack Orochimaru launched just a few months back, _ne_?" He slyly asked the _Hokage_.

"You may be right that it would be a good deal for Leaf," Tsunade started mildly enough. It didn't last as she gradually released her hardly even temper. "But you are severely underestimating us if you think we will sell one of our own for riches. We may merchandise our skills, but we haven't stooped so low as to trade off our kids!"

Kazuhiko abruptly shook his head. "I'm not asking you to sell Sakura! Lightning's support is just one of the benefits of this negotiation. It's mostly for her sake that I ask this. She-"

"-just wants to show her appreciation for Kakashi-_sensei_," Sara slyly interjected. She cattily smiled before slowly licking her lips in anticipation. Her eyes were half-lidded with passion, but they glowed with a single purpose that everyone in the room could see.

The blaring sexuality of the sashaying barely dressed voluptuous woman made every man (& even some women) in the room uncomfortable. It was like their trousers were too tight or their clothes were too warm or something...

Kakashi gulped at feeling hungry eyes virtually devouring him where he stood. He absentmindedly patted his clothes to assure himself that he hadn't been stripped naked by the sheer force of Sara's lascivious gaze.

Akira gaped at this version of Sakura.

Kazuhiko purposefully yanked the white ribbon holding his hair. He was about to call out to the now mature woman who was muffling the room with pheromones when Akira quickly elbowed his gut. "Woah, why didn't you didn't tell me that the brat was going to grow up this HOT? I would have charmed her-"

Kazuhiko ignored his blathering companion. In one hand flick, he snapped the piece of cloth. The air seemed to shimmer with the force of his actions and then... Sara abruptly stood still before disappearing in a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, an unconscious Sakura lay on the floor.

Shizune picked her up.

"If I may continue what I was saying earlier," Kazuhiko sarcastically asked the floored audience. He lectured like a doctor in front of a hall full of medical students. "Sakura's mental stability is quickly deteriorating. Her multiple personalities are jumbling together and not harmonizing to form a single functioning entity. The compartmentalization technique that I taught her years ago is turning out to be a disadvantage with the new trauma she received which destroyed whatever peace she managed to create for herself then. Still I'm probably the best bet to help her recover just like I did three years ago. For her own sake, release custody of this child to me now before matters become unpleasantly irrevocable."

"I agree." A quiet voice spoke up from the hall's open door. Between its frames stood a poker-faced Haruno Mayura.

Akira gazed back and forth between the child in Shizune's arms and the woman walking towards them. He thoughtlessly blurted a conjecture before Kazuhiko could even open his mouth. "Jesus, you must be the brat's mother!"

"I'm Haruno Mayura," the woman with the same impossibly roseate hair clarified. "And yes I'm Sakura's mother. I heard what you said Fujiwara-_sama _and after what just I saw here, I believe it's for the best if Sakura goes with you."

Kazuhiko gracefully bowed. "I'm honored by your trust. I will take care of your daughter. If she wishes it so, I will let her return when she recovers. And even if she doesn't, I will send news periodically."

Tsunade cleared her throat. "I'm not undermining you parental authority Haruno Mayura, but I don't think Shinji will just hand over Sakura like that."

Mayura calmly faced the Village's Leader. "I'm sorry_, Hokage-sama_, but I have made up my mind. To be truthful, I have never really wanted my daughter to become a ninja and I think what had just happened proves that such a life doesn't suit her. The _daimyo_ of lightning country can give so much more to my little scholar."

Kazuhiko graciously smiled. "She has a brilliant mind for politics, economics and foreign relations. It would be a pleasure to teach her the intricacies of law, commerce and government."

Mayura smiled brilliantly. "I noticed that myself when she was young. She had always been quick to grasp concepts and complex theories."

"No matter how true that is. I'm not about to just hand over Sakura to a complete stranger." Shinji wearily spoke up. The ANBU was heavily leaning against the open doorway. "Sakura is MY daughter too, Mayura."

"Shinji-san!" Shizune exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

No one bothered to answer her for they were all too busy shooting their mouths off.

"Shinji, I haven't forgotten that, but," Mayura lightly bit her lip before plunging on, "Sakura needs help which only Kazuhiko-_sama_ could provide."

"Oh? I didn't know the Lord of Lightning Country is a medic specialist." Shinji mockingly asked. He snapped his angrily fingers. "Oh, but that must be because he ISN'T. It's Tsunade-_sama _who's the famous medic specialist."

"I have never claimed to be a medic specialist but that doesn't change the fact that only I could successfully help Sakura. I've done it before after all." Kazuhiko confidently replied.

Tsunade snorted. "That's it! I'm butting out of this, this - " She spat out the following words. "FAMILY matter. Shinji!"

"_Hai_," the still queasy ANBU quietly asked.

"Go to the next room and don't come out until you've resolved this."

"_Hai_, _Godaime-sama_."

The door shut closed.

* * *

A week later, an icy platinum blonde raised an eyebrow at the black-haired man who suddenly bounded into the room. "What is it NOW, Akira?" Kazuhiko exasperatedly asked the younger man.

"Well, I was just wondering why let it go at that. If I knew you were going to give up that easy I wouldn't have worked so hard to get that kid!" Akira frowned at his best friend who still hasn't raised his head from his paperwork.

"And what makes you think that this is not the ending I wanted?" Kazuhiko absentmindedly asked as he considered the proposal in front of him.

Akira accusingly pointed his finger at the blonde. "Are you nuts? They got the kid in the end! I thought you wanted to assuage your guilt and other whatchamacclit zen stuff by turning that brat into a princess?"

Kazuhiko decisively stamped his approval at the end of the document. "Au contraire, Kira, things turned out precisely the way I wanted."

"EH??? If what you wanted was for that kid to stay there why go to all the trouble of going there and almost starting a war and all???" Akira felt like tearing his hair of at Kazuhiko's vague reply.

Kazuhiko waved off the other guy in a dismissive manner. "Never mind, Kira. You won't get it anyway."

Now, Akira felt like tearing his friend's hair instead. "How could I know if you won't say anything" The younger man spat out angrily through grinding teeth.

"_Hai, hai_. Very well, pay attention for I'm only going to say this once." Kazuhiko warned as he finally faced his bristling friend. "When I first saw her again during the _Chuunin_ Exam, I knew with one look that her psyche was cracking. I researched and found out that the leader of her team was the Copy Ninja. It was a fortuitous event and I used that information to start a series of events that will culminate with Hatake copying my technique. From the start I've had no intention of taking Sakura away from her parents. What I wanted to do was to create an opportunity for the Copy Ninja to see my sealing technique so that he could use it on Sakura."

"What? Then why didn't YOU just use it on her when you saw her during the Exam?" Akira's finger again accusingly pointed at the calm man behind the desk.

"That wouldn't have been fun." Kazuhiko blandly answered as he went back to his papers.

Akira burst into flames. "You! You!"

"If you're just going to awkwardly stammer all day, you may leave already Kira." Kazuhiko carelessly ordered the raging young man.

"Why you!" Akira murderously lunged at his best friend. "KAZU!!!"

In the Office of the Lord of Lightning Country a mini storm raged as the two best friends playfully waged war with each other.

* * *

Meanwhile in Konoha, a masked ninja gravely ran his hand over a particular name engraved in the memorial stone.

His fingers idly traced each syllable.

U-chi-ha O-bi-to.

The Sharingan eye spun crazily.

He dreamily muttered to himself. "It's funny the way things turn out. One moment, I was being accused right and left and now..." His laughter was brittle. "I'm not saying that I regret using the _Sharingan _to copy that damn man's movement. Not at all, it did heal Sakura's damaged psyche, but I-" he absently traced the vertical scar across his eye, "I never expected to come to this realization. Up until now, I believed what I saw in the mirror." He tugged at his silver hair. "Who else could I be with this pale skin, silver hair and an _Icha Icha _Paradise tucked in my pocket? Hmph, I failed my own rule – to look underneath the beneath. I'm sorry. Everyone thinks that I sacrificed for you, that I gave to you the clan's infamous eye." He snorted at the absurdness of it all. "They're wrong. They're so wrong that I would cry if I had any tears left. I'm sorry. I stole so much from you already." He looked up to the wide blue sky. "That's why I won't die until I've made YOU into a legend. It's the least I could do for your most precious gift to me - your body. "

Taking one last glance at the memorial, he yanked the _hiate_ down to hide the three whirling black pinwheels in a sea of red.

"_Sayonara_, Hatake Kakashi. Your death will not be in vain."

The silver-haired ninja disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

Meanwhile on a certain red bridge overlooking a sparkling river, three figures where waiting for a certain person. A blond kid with strange whisker like marks on his face had his arms at the back of his head. He was actively looking to and from for any sign of the person he's waiting for and vocally expressing his displeasure for it. Quietly leaning against the bridge post, a black-haired kid sunk his hands into his pockets. He shook his head at the futile act of his teammate and muttered a quick '_dobe_,' to which the blond kid immediately reacted. The third member exasperatedly threw her hands up in the air at her teammates actions. She was about to intervene when a sudden poof stopped all three from their actions. Three heads instantly looked up to where a silver-haired masked ninja was sheepishly rubbing the back of his head as he smilingly made up an excuse he hadn't used before.

A chorus of "liar!" resounded and Obito smiled at the thought that life was back to normal –that is as normal as it could get for a ninja who suddenly realized that he was living in the body of his best friend and has taken that identity as his own.

* * *

_Owari..._


End file.
